it'sa dog's life · personality best.' . auslander began by learning a single breed....

It'sadog'slifeAnd a' nice life it can be,unlessyou'rethe dog judge

By Steve Daleure, it's easy to blame

(;1jeer, and holler at

; sports officials. Theyi~ rarely .get credit. The

>. .; only thmgthey get con-sistently is abuse-from fans,participants,probablyeven theirown mothers. It's not. an easytask.

In fact, officiating can be themostembarrassingprofessiononearth, as in wnen a hockeylinesmanslipsonthe iceandfallsflat on his you-know-whator afootball referee gets tackled bymistake. However, it's hard toargue with Lou Auslander whenhe says that his sport can be themost humiliating of all to offi-ciate. After all, be's been bitten,urinated on and growled at-agrowl that can make Leo Dur0-cher or Billy Martin sound likepussycats. What's worse is thathe can't even penalize this sport'sparticipants for their completelack of respec!:and insubordina-tion. Beinga dogshowjudge is'teasy.

"Oh, it's hazardous," sa.ysAuslander, who helpec;lorgamzeSaturday's 14th Annual Fall DogShowat DonnelleyHall in McCor-mick Place. "Talk about addinginsult to injury, I was announcingone dog a champion when he dida number on my trousers. I liketo say that no matter what hap-pens, I can maintain my inte~i-ty. Of course, at some times It'seasier than others."

Auslander's first job for the dogshow was, well, manure. Theshovel and bucket were the toolsof his cleanup trade. Soon heopted for a more lucrative andneater line of work. He and hiswife bred and showed dogs.

In 1969, he decided to tryjudging. "It was a natural pro&-ressionfor a cockyguylike me, 'he says. "I think Judgingsuits mypersonality best.' .

Auslander began by learning asingle breed. Today, he's quaIi-

What: 14th Annual Fall DogShow

Where: Donnelley Hall at Mc-Cormick Place, 23rd Street andLake Shore Drive.When: 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday.How much: $5"adults, $1 chil-dren, $3 senior citizens.

fied to gI:ade 85 breeds, and isconsidered an international ex-pert onterriers. Onlya handfulofolder, veteran officials are quali-fied to d'udge all 128 AmericanKennel lub [AKC]breeds.

'the canines at AKC shows arejudged in two fields, obedienceand, comformation. AuslanderoVE;rseesthe latter event. He de-termines how well an animal con-forms to the breed's standards.He checks each competitor'sweight, coat, muscle tone. headand teeth. -

"Most ,of the dogs are verycooperative.I've onlybeenbitten .once,'he says nonchalantly,ashepoints to a smallscar onthe backof his right hand. "No, a Dober-man wasn't responsible. They'reonly vicious if they're trained tobe. Normally, they're great do~s.Most judges are cautious WithBasenJis,- Rottweillers and St.Bernards. It was a Scottish ter-rier that got me."

Auslander says he goes out ofhis way to not offend novice par-ticipants. He said a re<:entshowfeatured one dog whowas madeup to such a degree that it resem-bled Boy George on four legs."It's in the rules; the dogs can'tbe doctored up," he explains."The })OOranimal lookedso ridic-ulous. But I politely pointedout tothe owner why mal{eup wouldn'tmake the dog look any better, atleast not according to AKC stan-dards.

"It's important that we don'tturn off peopleto our s~rt. Gen-erally, they nave good mtentions.

Tribune photo by BillHogan

The kind of dogs that make judges beam: Champion Stiltons Tiger Mouse Houdini [left], a Yorkshire terrierhandled by Barbara Meskan, and JoAnn's Merrylane Melonee, a Maltese owned by Meskan. .

.I especially enjoy judging.the.junior showmanship events.That's where children have anopportunity to participate. I be-lieve it's necessary for the futureof any sport to get loung peopleinvolved.Besides,it s fun.' -

On one occasion, Auslander an-nouncedto a young participant,"It's time for me to checK theteeth."

The little girl respondedwith awide grin and promptly openedher mouth proudly {JOintingoutthat she haa no cavities.

-"I almost didn't have the heartto explain that I meant I wantedto inspect the dog's teeth. Onanother occasion. I asked the kid

to get ready to show. Small dogsare judged on a table. One littlegirl was trying desperately to gether-full grown St. Bernard on thislittle table. That was quite asight. The St. Bernard was twicethe girl's size."

Most of the events Auslanderjudges are taken a bit more seri-ousry. He averages 40 shows ayear; They take I1imall over theworld.

"This may sound sillr.," hesays, "but dogs are a bit differentfrom country to cOlmtry. In theUnited States, we JUamorizeourpets. We tend to Dreed louderbarkers. I suppose that's becausewe have more guard dogs."

Auslander is one of those peoplewho truly loves his job. After an,the only payment he receives isthe pleasureof beinga part of adog show. All AKC judges workon a volunteer basis. In addition,he is secretary-treasurer of theAKC, Chicago~.and a member ofthe board of airectors of the na-tional AKCand the ~ Museumin New York City. ---

He won't be judging Saturday'sdog show. He never works hisown events.

Auslander added that thisyear's fall show is particularlyImportant because proceeds fromadinission will ~o to the ChicagoAnti-CrueltySociety.